The Golden Roses
by Tearle
Summary: Things are not always what they appear to be. Rated T for future situations. Alternate Universe. Jaina/Arthas, Jaina/Kael'thas. *currently on hiatus, WILL be returning*
1. Chapter 1: The Apprentice Sorceress

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and suing me won't help. I'm sure Blizz makes way more off of these characters than I ever could.

Author's Notes: I'm not 100% on Warcraft Lore, so please don't shoot me. Also, I've never read _Arthas: Rise of the Lich King_, which explores this topic, so I have no idea what's in there and what isn't. I know I've already fudged some timelines to make certain lines I wanted to include fit. Please don't hate me, lore-fanatics.

_Updated with new content on 10/14/09_

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

**The Apprentice Sorceress**

**By J. Green**

She glanced up from her latest acquisition from the Dalaran library. _The Schools of Arcane Magic_ collection was one of her favorites, and she kept coming back to them. One of these days, she was going to purchase her own copies, instead of having to constantly stop herself from dog-earing the library's copies. It took her a moment to focus on what had caused her to look up, her head still filled with the words of Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver.

"Good evening, Lady Proudmoore." The voice made her smile.

"Prince Sunstrider, good evening."

Kael'thas Sunstrider, Prince of Quel'Thalas and member of the Kirin Tor, hovered uneasily by the door. His awkwardness around her always made Jaina smile. The tall, blonde high elf was so self-assured in all his dealings around Dalaran, but rarely said more than five words to her whenever they happened to be in the same room. To save him from himself, she stood up from the couch she had been lounging on, stretching in the process. The bottom of her lily white apprentice robes fell to her feet as she reached back for her book, only to be surprised that it was already in the prince's hands.

He took a moment to thumb through it, pausing only at the chapter on Medivh. He placed his hand over the drawing there, as if trying to absorb Medivh's great power from a simple picture. Abruptly, he snapped the book closed and handed it back to Jaina.

"He was powerful, yet corrupted by evil. Sometimes I fear these things go hand-in-hand." Jaina was confused by the cryptic words spilling from the prince's mouth.

"He was indeed powerful and corrupt, but he was redeemed. The Light will always redeem those who are worthy." He seemed to really look at her then, as if sensing something _more _within her. Uncomfortable with the look in his eyes, she began to retreat to the arched doorway.

"Lady Proudmoore, you really should let the younger apprentices have access to the books sometimes. You can't need to reread them so many times for retention." There was no condemnation in his tone, only mild amusement.

Throwing a bright smile over her shoulder, she responded, "But how will I ever make it onto the council without knowledge as vast as yours, Prince Sunstrider?" With that, she slipped through the archway into the plaza before heading to her rooms. She took a moment to absorb the fresh air around her. Her neck was tense from pouring over her studies that day, but the bright purples and greens of Dalaran helped ease the pain. The night air was crisp and cool; the stroll to her rooms was pleasant and comforting.

Once there, she paused to look at herself in the gilded mirror. At nineteen, her face was as smooth as china, her hair a golden silk, and her eyes a lapis blue. The white apprentice robes gave her the look of the angels carved into the walls in Stormwind's cathedral. She neither liked nor disliked this fact, but rather just accepted it, and the responsibility of proving one's self when one is beautiful. _Perhaps_, she hoped, _perhaps one day Kael'thas will see that I am more than just a pretty face_.

A glint out of the corner of her eye made Jaina turn towards the bed. There lay a perfectly preserved golden rose. Her breath caught. She had seen roses such as these before. It had been years since she walked among the gardens of Lordaeron, but she remembered this particular variety of rose with perfect clarity. With reverence, she picked up the flower.

_The rose cannot help but be jealous,  
__of one as beautiful as you._

"Arthas," she whispered, clutching the rose to her chest. Tonight, she knew, she would dream of happy memories spent playing amongst the corridors and gardens of Lordaeron.

* * *

Kael'thas watched the young woman as she walked through the plaza, completely at ease. The surroundings, as rich as they seemed here in this magically preserved place, were nothing compared to her. She was so young, and so...

_"Beautiful,"_ whispered the prince. He had never thought he'd meet someone he considered as beautiful as himself, but then _she_ came to Dalaran, begging to be trained. And she was talented, perhaps the most talented mage the city had seen since Medivh. If she continued to study as hard as she did, it would take no time at all for her to master _all_ of the elements, as a true archmage does.

When she disappeared into her rooms, he immediately felt guilty. He was more than ten times her senior, both in age _and_ skill. He had no business chasing after a young human's skirts. He shook his head in disgust before turning from the window and heading towards his rooms for the evening. He would forget about this little bit of a girl if he had to give up his kingdom to do so.

* * *

_"Jaina – no!"_

_She was running through dark corridor after dark corridor. Mindless zombies threatened from every side. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't get away. Where had Arthas gone? He had been right in front of her!_

_There was a cold touch on her arm. Looking down at the rotting flesh, she couldn't help but scream. She fell to the side, only thinking of getting away from the hand, from the coldness. Another hand reached towards her. She couldn't force herself back up, it was as if the ground had glued her in place. The area around her was rotting, and skeletal hands were reaching for her from beneath the surface._

_"Arthas, help me!" she cried out._

_"No, Jaina, come back to me! Jaina, don't!" Whose voice was that? She couldn't recognize it. _Arthas?_ she thought. _Could it be him?_ It seemed too bright, too full of panic. Arthas never panicked._

_"Please! Help me!" She felt weak and cold. The world was slowly fading away. A malicious voice laughed in the distance, chilling her to her very core. A bright light suddenly broke through the darkness, reaching out to her. She lifted her hand...if she could just touch it, she knew she'd be safe. It was so close...so close. A hand clamped down on hers, pulling her up and filling her with warmth. The light wrapped around her._

_"Thank you," she whispered over and over again._

_"It's me, it's always been me..." the bright voice said. She looked up and into the eyes of..._

Jaina sat up, startled, trying to shake off the last vestiges of her dream. She couldn't remember who – or what – had saved her, but it had been wholly unexpected. She reached over to her nightstand and touched the golden rose that rested there, feeling comforted by its presence.

It wasn't until the light from her window began to warm her face that she was shaken out of her reverie. _Great, I'm going to be late._ Antonidas would be very grumpy with her if she dawdled much longer. She quickly brushed out her hair and threw her slightly rumpled apprentice robes back on, dashing out to the plaza as soon as she was able. It was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

**Chapter 2:**

**The Meeting**

**By J. Green**

"Jaina, you're not paying close enough attention. Would you like to lose control and blow Dalaran to tiny bits?" Antonidas admonished her.

Jaina sighed softly, but only responded with "No, sir." She _had_ been paying close attention, but her master was still displeased with her tardiness from the day before. The fact that she had arrived early this morning had no impact on his mood. This was just one of the many prices of working with the most skilled mage of the time, especially as a woman.

It's not that women were not _allowed_ to practice magic within the Kirin Tor, it was more that they weren't exactly _encouraged_ to do so. While Jaina's natural talent excluded her from most of those prejudices, it certainly didn't give her a free pass. She hoped that one day, with her help, women would be seen as equals among the order of the Kirin Tor.

She cleared her mind and refocused her energy in front of her. Suddenly, a pillar of fire ignited the ground she was focusing on, causing a small circular area to burn for a few seconds. Satisfied, she relaxed her shoulders and glanced over at Antonidas. He harrumphed, but didn't scold her any further. Indicating she should attempt another spell, he folded his arms across his broad chest. This time, Jaina concentrated on the target dummy set against the wall. She began gathering her strength before lifting her hand toward it, launching several bolts of arcane energy at a time. A movement to her left caused her to start, stopping her barrage.

"Fool! How do you plan on taking down your enemies if you cannot focus on your casting? Do you just expect them to attack you one at a time? Perhaps they'll stand in a line, drinking tea with each other, waiting for you to hurl your measly bolts at them..." Antonidas's verbal assault continued while Jaina glared at her interruption. Prince Sunstrider, for all that it was _his_ fault she was being reproached, managed to look down at his hands as if inspecting his nails, completely unperturbed.

"If you are quite done, Grand Magus, I come baring news," Prince Sunstrider interrupted the mage. Antonidas harrumphed again, this time in annoyance with elf, but he paid him no mind. "Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron has arrived and is seeking your counsel."

"Fine, fine. I'll be on my way. Jaina, your portals have been dodgy. Have Kael show you a thing or two. After I'm done, I'm sure you'll wish to speak with Arthas." Jaina nodded, eager to see Arthas and to hear news of her family. When Antonidas had blinked from the room, she turned to the prince, regarding him with a wary eye. How was he to teach her anything if he couldn't even speak to her?

She need not have worried, as the elvin mage was all business. Over and over, she created portal after portal, and still he wasn't satisfied. She was too fast, she was too slow; the portal was too small, the portal was too large; the portal didn't display the exact coordinates he had given her. Sweat had begun to slide down her neck when she finally threw her hands up in the air, frustrated with his latest demand: her hands were in the wrong position for casting portals.

"I give up!" she exclaimed. "Make your own damn portals!" Prince Sunstrider's eyes registered his shock at her outburst.

"I can," he stately simply, with a shrug of his shoulders. She couldn't help herself; she began to laugh.

"Yes," she responded, "I supposed you can."

"Really, your portals are not half as bad as I had thought. Certainly not 'dodgy' by any sense of the word."

"I'm afraid the Grand Magus is a little agitated with me as of late. I had the audacity to arrive five minutes late to our training session yesterday."

Empathy sparkled in the prince's eyes. "Ah, yes, I believe he once gave me the cold shoulder for two months because I missed a sparring appointment with him – I had been laid up in the hospital for a week with the flu!"

They shared a chuckle over Antonidas's quirkiness about time before the elf turned to Jaina and said, "I'm sorry if I offended you, before. I was just pushing the limits of your abilities. Every mage can cast a simple city portal; only people deserving the title of the archmagus can create a portal to any coordinates given."

Jaina sighed, "Well, if that's the case, then my hands must really be in the wrong casting position. That was the only correction you had that wasn't a test of abilities."

He smiled as he began casting a portal to Quel'Thalas, indicating that she should ape his movements. She moved her hands in a similar manner, unknowingly screwing her face up and sticking her tongue out in concentration. When he glanced at her to check her progress, he snorted and lost focus on his portal.

"I certainly hope my face doesn't look like _that_ when I'm casting a portal." She looked at him in utter confusion before coloring with the realization. He stepped up behind her and grabbed her hands. "Please, don't subject me to that face again. Just concentrate on opening a portal to the library."

She pictured the library in her mind, drew on her strength, and began to focus her energy in front of her. The prince's hands, smooth and cool, moved hers to the position he had held before. Although he was almost two heads taller than her, she felt his warm, steady breath on the back of her neck. She doubled her focus as an unexpected wave of desire flared in her chest. A drop of sweat snaked its way down her exposed cleavage and she felt his breath quicken and his hands tighten. She lost all concentration as he suddenly broke away from her.

"Good...that was...good." And without another word, Kael'Thas Sunstrider, Prince of Quel'Thalas, the high elf who feared nothing, turned and fled the room.

* * *

Antonidas sighed. Perhaps pledging Kirin Tor's allegiance to the Alliance of Lordaeon had been shortsighted on his part. While it had led to victory in the Second War, lately, it had only led to endless interruptions of his studies and grooming of his apprentice's skills. He smiled when his thoughts turned to young Jaina Proudmoore. She was as skilled as she was beautiful; if he had had a daughter, he hoped she would have been like Jaina. He didn't even feel the slightest bit guilty for coming down hard on her tardiness; it almost assuredly guaranteed promptness for the rest of her life. And throwing her together with Kael as a "teacher"? That was just good planning on his part. The elf would far outlive him, and if Antonidas desired to turn the mantle of leadership over to Jaina when he passed, Kael needed to get over his infatuation with her. He couldn't have two of his best mages unable to speak to each other!

"...and that is why we need your assistance, Grand Magus." Antonidas looked up from his reverie, having heard very little the human prince said.

Clearing his throat, he stated regally, "Of course, I see your point, Prince Menethil. I will allow you to present your case before the Council."

Arthas tried not to look exasperated at Antonidas's apparent lack of interest. Dalaran was Lordearon's strongest ally, and truly the only entity capable of assisting the current plight of the Alliance. He would just have to hope that the Council was more willing to listen.

"Ah, Jaina, don't hover by the door. Come in, come in. Prince Menethil and I were just finishing." Arthas turned and was immediately struck breathless. He hadn't seen her since she left for Dalaran three years ago. At the time, she had been awkward and gawky; she had followed him around Lordearon like a little lost puppy whenever her father came to visit. But now? Now she stood erect with confidence and power. Her formerly plain blonde hair now flowed with such luster that the moonlight seemed to dance on it. Her skin looked like a pearl and he wanted nothing more than to touch it. Her startlingly blue eyes, which he had never noticed before, were ringed by long, inky black eyelashes and seemed to shine with intelligence. And her body...his desire struck him hard. She had a body men lusted after, curved in all the right places; so curvy, in fact, that her modest apprentice robes struggled to cover her ample cleavage.

Jaina felt his stare, but instead of returning it tenfold as she wished, she kept her eyes trained on Antonidas, only stealing glances Arthas's way sporadically. Her master outlined her course of work for the next day, oblivious to the thoughts of his apprentice. Arthas looked...good. Very good. He was taller than she remembered, and his paladin training had obviously done great things for him. The muscles in his arms and chest strained against his tunic and the air of confidence surrounding him was intoxicating. Yes, this was a man who could get things done. His hair was the only detail that made her pause. It was more yellow than she remembered. More of a saffron than the pale cream color of her dreams. Was that how it always was? _Kael'Thas has cream colored hair_. She immediately snapped her attention back to Antonidas with that thought. Of course that was it. The only blondes other than herself that she had exposure to these last three years were Prince Sunstrider and Vereesa Whisperwind, a high elf ranger often coming to Dalaran on assignments from her superiors.

Finally, Antonidas finished speaking and Jaina was free to face Arthas. "Prince Menethil, how pleasant it is to see you again."

"Lady Proudmoore, the pleasure is all mine," Arthas responded. He took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. "I bring news from Lord Admiral Daelin and Kul Tiras. But it's late. Perhaps you'd rather rest and we can catch up tomorrow."

"Oh, please, no. I'm eager for news of home! Tandred has been slow in writing these last few months. I'm afraid father has been pushing him a little hard."

Tucking her hand in his arm, he stated, "Well, please lead the way to your rooms and I will tell you all I know."


End file.
